22
knight
I MAKE CALIX stop the car and let me out when we’re approaching the Cedar Falls campus. I don’t want to be spotted getting out of his car. It’s not good for him or me.
He gives me one last look as I leave, something disapproving, and it actually makes me wonder if I’m doing the wrong thing here. I feel a little bit wary. I actually debate for a little bit.
But I’ve come this far, and I’m sure as hell that I want Acker dead, so I just give him a little salute, and I crawl out of the backseat into the bright morning light, and he drives off, leaving me there.
I turn into the nearby woods and trudge off into them.
The leaves on the trees are starting to turn colors, but for the most part, they’re still green and dripping foliage everywhere, so I disappear into the woods pretty quickly.
Soon, I come to the fence that surrounds the property of Cedar Falls. I scale it. It’s not a high-security fence, just one of those chain link things with nothing special on the top. It’s got vines growing all over it, and it kind of fades into the forest if you don’t know that you’re looking for it.
Inside, I’m in the wooded part of the property Cedar Falls owns. They have maybe fourteen acres out here, which is a lot of land for this close to the sprawl of New York City. But then, this is one of the things that Cedar Falls pats itself on the back for. We have a plot of land we protect from development , they say. We have a natural environment close by, full of native plants and animals, a habitat that provides a peaceful setting for our clients.
Not that any of the people who check themselves into Cedar Falls for a heat are ever outside much. But as I approach the building, I have to admit it does look like a country club or a high-end vacation resort. It’s a sprawling building, but it’s well designed to blend into the landscape. It’s surrounded by attractive plants and bushes which are well groomed, but don’t look unnatural either. Surrounding the building are areas with flower beds and gravel trails flanked by wooden barriers. There are benches for people to sit on, a gazebo behind the building. It’s fancy.
Calix would have parked in the back, in the parking lot for staff. I know where that is.
But I’m not going to go in that way, nope.
I’m going in the front fucking door.
I grin, as I pick my way towards the entrance, but internally, I’m grim as I remember the last time I did this. I’m banking on the fact that no one in there will recognize me. For one thing, the front desk staff doesn’t see the hounds or the captive omegas or alphas often. The experimental side of the facility is distanced from the public part, and it’s likely whoever is working the intake there will have never seen me before.
Even if they have, they probably won’t put it together, who and what I am.
Now, if anyone’s looking at the security cameras, like Dr. Acker, that could be a problem.
But there’s no other way in, that’s the thing.
There’s the back entrance, where the staff would go in, and that’s definitely not a good idea. If I go in there, I’m dead in minutes.
No, this way, in the public area, they can’t just shoot me in the head, not in front of customers. And if they send security out to come for me, I have time to do damage control.
It’s a gamble, I guess, but I’m feeling good about it.
The truth is that when it comes down to it, people don’t want to believe something dangerous is happening. If you don’t act like a dangerous person, they have difficulty shifting into that paradigm. So, I don’t think anyone’s going to notice I’m threat. Not at all.
I hope I’m right.
It’s much easier if I’m right.
When I get to the front door, there’s a woman coming in, pulling a suitcase. She’s wearing comfortable clothes—a pair of leggings and a hoodie. I hold the door for her, giving her a warm smile.
She smiles back, tells me thank you, and then goes into the lobby.
I follow her in, keeping my distance as she approaches the front desk.
Inside, all the wood is stained dark and the accent colors are warm reds and oranges and greens. There are potted plants on the floor, a tasteful light fixture hanging overhead. Everything seems nicely designed—upscale—comforting.
The woman leans on the counter, offering her phone. “I made my reservation online earlier?”
“Let me scan your QR code,” says the woman at the desk. She does so, and I force myself not to think about not having a phone or a reservation, because that will make me nervous, and I don’t need to be nervous right now. I need to be calm and confident and protect that.
“So, we have you for the one caregiver package,” says the woman behind the counter.
“Oh, my God, are you going to try to upsell me?” says the woman in the hoodie. “Because I can just turn around and walk out, you know, and I don’t—”
“Not at all,” says the woman behind the desk. “It’s only that I do want to point out that this is a one-at-a-time package, which may look as if it’s going to be a cheaper price, but because of the fact that your heat may take longer to break, it doesn’t always end up cheaper. This is a cheaper daily rate, but if you end up here for a week, it’s going to be more expensive than if you pay for more caregivers, you understand.”
The woman raises her eyebrows. “They make you say this?”
“Well, look, I’ll be honest with you. I’m going to be checking you out after your heat, most likely. If it’s not me, it’s going to be one of my two other co-workers out here. I check people in, and I check people out, and I get a lot of people coming out who are really disappointed in the fact that they’ve been under for seven days because their heat wouldn’t break with only one caregiver at a time.”
“Caregiver,” she mutters, rolling her eyes.
“You have a word you’d prefer? Partner, perhaps?”
The omega rubs her temples with her fingers. “I can hardly think about this right now. The heat is getting worse.”
“Of course,” says the woman at the desk. “Well, if you’re happy with this, then, I’ll go ahead and take your card.”
The omega hesitates. “What option ends up being cheapest, in your opinion?”
“Well, this depends on a lot of factors,” says the woman at the front desk. “But the more caregivers you pay for up front, the faster it’s done. But considering that the price is more per caregiver, there’s a sweet spot right around three.”
“Really?” The omega sighs. She chews on her lip. She turns to look at me.
I make a show of looking at the floor.
“You’re an alpha,” she says. “I can smell that.”
I meet her gaze, shrugging. “Sure, you can, especially right now.”
“You don’t smell like you’re in a rut,” she says.
Come on, random omega, don’t blow my cover. “Don’t I?”
She shakes her head. “Not the point. You been here before? Did they do this to you when you came in?”
The woman clears her throat. “It’s not really the same for men. Alphas or omegas, if they’re male, they tend to be more easily satisfied with one caregiver, if you want to know the truth.”
The omega’s gaze sweeps me, settles on my crotch, and then she blushes. “Yeah, okay, maybe men are easily, um, occupied.” She clears her throat again. “Bump me up to three, I guess.”
“I really think you’re going to be glad of that,” says the woman at the front desk. “It’ll be cheaper for you in the end.”
“Or, it’ll be the exact same price, but you’ll get me out of here more quickly, which means you can charge for my rooms to someone else,” says the omega.
“You’d much rather be back to your life, and to have your heat over, I imagine.”
“True.” The omega hands over her credit card.
The woman at the front desk runs it, prints off a piece of paper, and has the omega sign it. She sends the omega to her room, handing her a set of keys, saying someone will be there to give her an injection within forty-five minutes.
The omega thanks her and takes her suitcase to the door to the lefthand side of the desk.
The woman at the front desk buzzes the omega in. She disappears.
My turn.
I saunter up to the front desk. “Hey there.”
“May I help you?” she says.
“I hope so,” I say. “I don’t have, like, an appointment the way that woman did. I didn’t know about that. Was I supposed to have done that online before I even got here?”
“Not necessary,” says the woman behind the desk. “I’m guessing this is your first time here? Let me get a name just to make sure you’re not already in our system?”
Well, that got there quick. I can stall her for a little bit, I suppose, but there’s not much point in it, really. I have to get in. She’s going to be my way in. I was sort of hoping to establish a little bit of a rapport first, but stalling her is only going to make her suspicious.
My hand shoots across the desk and I seize her by the throat.
She makes a gargling noise in the back of her throat, her eyes wide. She scrabbles at my hand there.
“Did you know how easy it is to kill a human being?” I say to her conversationally. “There are a few places where our bodies are incredibly vulnerable.”
She struggles.
“I’m guessing no,” I say with a shrug. “Well, trust me, it’s easy. Trust me when I say I am holding your literal life in my hand right now. You understand that?”
She makes some unintelligible noise as she continues to fight.
“Going to take that as a yes,” I say. “Okay, open the door there.” I nod at the door where the omega disappeared.
She moves one hand off of where I’m holding onto her to hit a little button. There’s a buzzing noise.
“That easy, huh?” I sigh. I drag her over the front desk, pulling her up by her neck as she makes even more gagging noises, as she wriggles against my hand, looking pained and frightened.
It doesn’t bother me that she’s uncomfortable, gotta say. I like it. I like being in control of her. I like being the one inflicting the pain.
I’d kind of like to stay and hurt her some more, but I don’t have the time for that. I could kill her. It really would be easy. But I feel like that would really annoy Striker and Lotus and probably Calix and Arrow, too, and their annoyance matters to me.
However, if I just knock her out, she’ll be awake really quickly and she’ll tell someone I’m here.
I’m on the cameras, of course, but security really doesn’t prioritize watching the cameras in this part of the facility, just the part where the experiments are going on. Someone could be flipping through all the different cameras and notice me, of course. It could happen.
They’d probably be here by now if so.
So, I’m going to assume that they’re not coming.
Front Desk Girl’s going to have to come with me, too.
So, I yank her along with me, go through the door, and we emerge into a tastefully decorated hallway. One side is glass windows overlooking the surrounding gardens and woods. The other side is doors to rooms for omegas and alphas who check in.
I remember checking in to one of those rooms, however long ago it was. Why didn’t I ask Calix this, anyway? He’s the one who’s seen our files.
This isn’t something to be worrying about now, of course.
I try the doors, but they’re all locked.
I let go of the girl’s neck.
She falls to a heap on the floor, rubbing at her neck, panting, tears streaming down her face.
“Is someone in these rooms, or are they just locked?” I say.
She gasps, panting.
“Answer me, or I hurt you,” I say to her.
“Empty,” she manages. “They’re empty.”
“Thank you,” I say, and I put my elbow into it, breaking the door down. Well, that’s going to be obvious, isn’t it? I almost expect an alarm to sound or something when I splinter the wood around the door handle. Doesn’t happen though.
I drag the front desk girl inside.
It’s like a nice hotel room in here, big king-sized bed, TV, luxurious bathroom…
I decide not to be an ass and lock her in the bathroom. The shower nozzle is the kind with a long tube for hand held washing, and I tie her up with that. She should be able to stretch and get to the toilet if necessary. It probably won’t hold her forever either, but I just need to buy some time.
“Thanks so much for your help,” I tell her, and then I lock her in there, leave the room, and continue on my way.
At the end of the hallway, there’s an elevator bank. I get on the elevator, put in the number of the lower levels, which aren’t visible here, but I remember watching Acker do this. She thought we were too stupid to understand, so she never hid it from us. It asks for a code. I remember her code. I put that in. The elevator lurches to life, taking me to the lower levels of the facility, taking me to Dr. Acker.